I have to smoke because of all my stress

In the panel last night we had about 10 panelists. Some shared stories last night, others I know of issues that have happened in their lives since they had
quit. One man who was off for just over a year and a half now recalled how his father had died just a few months into his quit and how this was the first
major death he had ever experienced in his life and how he still got through it smoke free.

A couple of panelists referred to major scares that happened with their children, one man within months of a quit finding out that his daughter had a brain
tumor. Luckily it turned out not to be non-malignant, but for a time he did not know that and yet he was still able to maintain his quit under such stress.

One man had numerous surgeries over the years and had been told by his doctors that the one real thing he had going for him was the fact he had quit smoking
so long ago. If he had known at the time that he was quitting that he was going to have to go through such traumatic procedures, it may have interferred with
his quitting because the person could think, "how can I get through the stress of such risky surgery without a cigarette?"

It all comes down to the fact that stress is not a reason for smoking, smoking is just a reason for stress. To reduce your causes for stress and likely your
reaction to stresses that do occur over a lifetime always remember to never take another puff!

Even light smoking can make people grumpy and less able to handle stress, says a British study.

New Zealand anti-smoking lobby group Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said the study results, published in the journal Pharmacology,
Biochemistry and Behaviour, dispelled the myth that smoking had a calming effect.

Researchers from London's King's College subjected two groups to "a battery of cognitive tests that were mildly
stressful".

Males and females who smoked between five and 12 cigarettes a day were tested immediately after smoking.

The second group were non-smokers.

The two groups were equivalent in age, intellect, personality measures, and levels of anxiety and depression.

The researchers found the smokers' group was "overall significantly more discontented, troubled, tense, quarrelsome, furious,
impatient, hostile, annoyed and disgusted and experienced greater dizziness".

It is normal and natural to believe that smoking is a stress buster, that it calms us during crisis. How could we not believe it? We
felt it happen hundreds or maybe even thousands of times. But as reviewed in the previous chapter, stress relief is one the biggest rationalization shams of
all.

According to a once secret 1983 Brown & Williamson research memo, "People smoke to maintain nicotine levels" and "stress robs the body of
nicotine, implying a smoker smokes more in times of stress due to withdrawal, not to relax."1
Stressful events turn body fluids more acidic, which accelerates depletion of blood serum reserves of the alkaloid nicotine. Whether smoked, chewed or dipped,
nicotine does not relieve anxiety but only its own absence. Like taking the time to calm ourselves by counting to ten, the time needed for replenishment
combines with the arrival of a new supply of nicotine and leaves us falsely yet totally convinced that nicotine was an emotional solution to crisis.

When did using nicotine ever resolve our underlying crisis? If the tire was flat, it was still flat. If some event had made us angry, nicotine replenishment
totally ignored the event.

Feeling the physiological effects of stress causes kidney urine acidification. Sucking nicotine from the bloodstream has the effect of making every stressful
event life throws our way far more stressful than it is for never-users or ex-users, as they only need to endure the stressful event, not nicotine withdrawal
too.

Without replenishment, even if the flat tire or other stressful situation is tackled and resolved, the nicotine addict still is not going to feel good.
Conflict resolution does not ease withdrawal. Only re-administration of nicotine or navigating withdrawal and the up to 72 hours needed to eliminate nicotine
from the body can bring relief.

Unlike total nicotine elimination, replenishment's relief is temporary. While it calms for the moment, the user will again soon be forced to confront the
chemical clock governing their life (nicotine's two-hour chemical half-life) or witness accelerated depletion brought on by encountering stress or by
consuming alcohol.

Joel makes one final yet important point. Nicotine's false calming effect quickly becomes a rationalization crutch reached for
during stressful situations. The crutch and nicotine's impact upon the user's life is "more far-reaching
than just making initial stress effects more severe." According to Joel, "it affects how the person may deal with conflict and sadness in a way that
may not be obvious, but is nonetheless serious. In a way, it affects the ability to communicate and maybe even in some way, grow from the
experience."2

Joel shares an example. "Let's say you don't like the way a significant other in your life squeezes toothpaste. If you
point out how it's a problem to you in a calm rational manner, maybe the person will change and do it in a way that is not disturbing to you. By
communicating your feelings you make a minor annoyance basically disappear. But now let's say you're a smoker who sees the tube of toothpaste, gets a
little upset, and is about to say something, again, to address the problem. But wait. Because you are a little annoyed, you lose nicotine, go into withdrawal,
and before you are able to deal with the problem, you have to go smoke. You smoke, alleviate the withdrawal and, in fact, you feel better. At the same time,
you put a little time between you and the toothpaste situation and on further evaluation, you decide it's not that big of a deal, forget
it."

"Sounds like and feels like you resolved the stress. But in fact, you didn't. You suppressed the feeling. It is still there,
not resolved, not communicated. Next time it happens again, you again get mad. You go into withdrawal. You have to smoke. You repeat the cycle, again not
communicating and not resolving the conflict," writes Joel. "Over and over again, maybe for years this pattern is
repeated."

"One day you quit smoking. You may in fact be off for weeks, maybe months. All of a sudden, one day the exact problem presents
itself again, that annoying toothpaste. You don't have that automatic withdrawal kicking in and pulling you away from the situation. You see it, nothing
else affecting you and you blow up. If the person is within earshot, you may explode."

"When you look back in retrospect, you feel you have blown up inappropriately, the reaction was greatly exaggerated for the
situation. You faced it hundreds of times before and nothing like this ever happened. You begin to question what happened to you to turn you into such a
horrible or explosive person. Understand what happened," writes Joel. "You are not blowing up at what just happened, you are blowing up for what has
been bothering you for years and now, because of the build up of frustration, you are blowing up much more severely than you ever would have if you addressed
it early on. It is like pulling a cork out of a shaken carbonated bottle, the more shaken, the worse the explosion."

As Joel explains it, years of nicotine use stopped us from properly dealing with feelings early on. Instead, we allow them to fester
and grow to a point where when they do come out, it is far more severe than if initially addressed. Sooner or later, even if we fail to break free from
nicotine, that unresolved stress will most probably result in either a blowup or onset of one or more anxiety related diseases.

Don't for a second think that hiding from life by escaping into a central nervous systemstimulated dopamine "aaah" sensation or hiding from life is an answer or solution. It's our problem. As we climb back into our mind's
driver's seat we need to listen to our feelings and emotions. We may discover that we need to learn to address the root causes of once suppressed anxiety
or anger in positive and healthy ways. The only lasting solution to anxieties brought on by rapidly falling nicotine reserves, anxieties that interfere with
healthy conflict resolution, is to bring active nicotine dependence to an end.

This article addresses the issue that often prevents many people from ever seriously considering getting rid of
cigarettes--the issue that smokers feel that they need cigarettes to keep them calm. I suspect because of some heavier media exposure than normal over the
next week we are going to have a lot of people looking in at us here at Freedom.

I am going to try to keep articles like this that dispel some of the major misconceptions that interfere with
people attempting to quit. Maybe some of our members can address this from a more personal perspective. How have your reactions to stress changed since you
quit? We know that since we have members who are off from months and years, that many of you have faced major life traumas since
quitting.

Are you feeling calmer, more nervous, or the same as when you smoked? Personal insights of a variety of people
will likely show a broad range of reactions. So share with others how your stress has changed, or more accurately, how your reactions to stress and
mechanisms for dealing with stress have altered. Lets show the world that everyone is fully capable of facing good times as well as bad and still remain
smoke free as long people know under all conditions to never take another puff!

Yes, thanks - that's the one. And in all the years I smoked, I thought it was because I am unable to handle stress, when in actuality it's the
chemical that made me unable to handle stress! That was such a "light-bulb moment" for me.

I had not seen the article called "Tensing up on Tobacco Road." Thanks, that was very interesting and confirms what I've been noticing but
couldn't put into words: that smokers are more hostile, temperamental, and volatile. And we're like that because we smoke, not because we don't
smoke!

I saw where a new member referred to how she was taking a homeopathic product to help with stress since she can no longer smoke. While it is true that when a
person first quits smoking he or she may feel additional stresses, there is no real need to take a drug to deal with it. A product you are take for the
expressed reason of dealing with a problem should be categorized as a drug, whether it is prescribed, over the counter, natural, or any other term. While the
product may not be a drug in other settings, once a person is using it to specifically treat an emotional or physical reaction to anything there is no other
term that can more accurately describe it.

The reason I am attaching the above comment in this particular string though is to address the concept of smoking actually being a cause of stress much more
so that a treatment for stress. While most smokers actually believe that smoking was an effective stress treatment strategy (a drug that calmed them down),
when it really comes down to it, smoking never truly calmed them down. All it did was administered nicotine alleviated nicotine withdrawal that was induced
by stress. The illustration and text below covers this point.

The one true step that people are doing here to control their stress is getting rid of a product that should cause any thinking person a lot of worry and to
stop the vicious cycle of drug feeding and drug withdrawal by always knowing now to never take another puff!

Joel

In the illustration above you can see on the left how a non-smokers reacts to stress. Without it they are happy and comfortable, when
encountering stress they lose this comfort and depending on its severity they can get either mildly annoyed or really upset. The resolution of the stress
will normally bring the non-smoker back to the original state of comfort, after a little time of cooling down of course.

Smokers are much more complex. Stress has an affect on all people--it makes the urine acidic. Both smokers and non-smokers experience this
phenomena. In non-smoker smokers, the urine acidity has no real visible or perceivable effects--smokers are much more complicated. After the initial stress
a smoker will feel like a non-smoker encountering stress, for a few seconds. But then the delineation occurs, the smoker's nicotine level depletes
because of the urine acidity induced by the stress, and the smoker is kicked into a drug withdrawal state. The smoker has four ways to deal with the
situation now.

First, the smoker can just smoke a cigarette. Well low and behold if the smoker does this he or she will feel "better." He or she
will not feel good; he or she just won't be feeling withdrawal for the moment but still be feeling the initial stress. In essence, he or she will feel
like a non-smoker under stress, not great, but not in withdrawal either.

The second way a smoker can handle the stress is to solve it and also smoke a cigarette. This results in one happy smoker. No stress now
and no withdrawal, life is good at the moment. The feeling of bliss is basically the same feeling a non-smoker has who resolves his or her stress.

But then there are the other two scenarios. The smoker can solve the problem but not smoke. Here is the kicker here, the problem is
resolved but the smoker is still in withdrawal, the nicotine level has dropped and problem resolution has no way to stop the nicotine depletion, only a
cigarette can do that.

The worst of all situations is the smoker who cannot solve the problem and also cannot smoke a cigarette. This is a miserable situation to
ever be in. You normally don't want to be around a smoker in this situation let alone being one yourself. Many smokers find themselves facing this
dilemma daily since many jobs and social settings do not allow smoking yet constantly force the smoker to face stresses.

When you quit smoking these last four reactions to stress become a thing of the past. You still face stress, but you no longer have to face
drug withdrawals induced by it. In essence you deal with stress in a totally different way when you don't have chronic drug withdrawals exaggerating
it.

To stay in the position of being able to handle stresses with greater clarity and minimal discomfort always know that no matter what the
stress, to avoid it having any long lasting and life threatening complications always remember to never take another puff!

In honor or Bill who doesn't really need
this and also for anyone else hit by any recent blizzard who may not recognize how things are actually better even when under adverse conditions as long as
you stick with your commitment to never take another puff!

In honor or Bill who doesn't really need this and also for anyone else hit by any
recent blizzard who may not recognize how things are actually better even when under adverse conditions as long as you stick with your commitment to never
take another puff!

I'll testify to that, Joel This past two months have been very stressful for me,
coping with a recession in my business, and with a few family health problems. I can honestly say that not resorting to nicotine has enormously helped me
retain a clear head, deal immediately with the problems that needed to be dealt with, and keep a positive outlook.

My quit has made every problem seem smaller, every day seem better.

Now my business problems are dealt with, my family are on the mend, and .... and I'm still an ex-smoker What could be better than that ?

Inside the human body your blood serum nicotine reserves are an alkaloid while stress a major acid producing event. Have you ever watched a baking
soda/water solution poured onto an acid covered car battery terminal? Even in the body the neutralization is almost that fast. Smoking nicotine does not
relieve stress, it only relieves its own absence, while the underlying stressful event must always wait for you to tend to the symptoms of early chemical
withdrawal.

Why add chemical withdrawal to every stressful event in life? The rich sense of calmness and comfort that you'll hear Freedom's BSG members talk
about isn't only related to long periods of time (days, weeks, months or years) of not THINKING about smoking nicotine but to how much easier
it is to handle all the stressful situations that are a natural part of daily life.

It truly is much much harder living and planning life from the inside of pack after pack after pack than it is being "you" again! You're
going home to meet the "real" you and I think you're in for a real treat! Just one day at a time, cling tight to your original core
motivations, reasons, dreams and desires as they and obedience to the law of addcition are your ticket home!

I saw a newer member who was experiencing triggers initiated by spring storms. I thought
this piece explains how winter storms can cause some of the same responses. If an ex-smoker is faced with tornado warnings and is held up at some site where
he or she can't smoke, he or she is not going to face nicotine withdrawals induced by the storm. He or she is likely going to face fears and anxieties,
but these are normal reactions to the abnormal situation he or she is facing.

A smoker trapped in the same circumstances who is either not allowed to smoke or doesn't have his or her cigarettes with him or her, is going to be
facing fear, anxiety and drug withdrawal. He or she may actually feel a compulsion to go out in the storm in order to secure cigarettes. Hopefully logic will
set in and the person will realize that as bad as the temporary withdrawal may be, it is not worth putting his or her life on the line in order to go out and
smoke for. Although there is no guarantee that an active smoker will think in these terms, considering he or she he or she is putting his or her life on the
line every day by smoking in order to avoid nicotine withdrawal.

It still comes down that the only way to really end nicotine withdrawals forever is to stop delivering nicotine and then to never allow it to pass into your
body again via any route. This translates to never delivering nicotine via any NRT product, or from chewing tobacco route and to always remember to never got
nicotine into your system again via a smoked tobacco route by just knowing to never take another puff!

I am not sure that this finding was not reported here at Freedom before being that it was from a published study from last month, but just in case
it wasn't I thought this would be an applicable string to address it. So many smokers who have had a history of panic attacks fear that quitting
smoking may exacerbate the condition. This study seems to indicate that their smoking may in fact be a factor aggravating the condition.

From the Kansas City Star

August 16, 2003

One more reason to stop smoking - panic attacks

Don't panic -- stop smoking.

A new study suggests that panic attacks are far more likely in nicotine addicts than nonsmokers.

In surveying more than 3,000 Munich-area teenagers and young adults, researchers from Germany and California found that 7.6 percent of regular,
nicotine-dependent smokers had a history of panic attacks.

That compares with 0.7 percent of nonsmokers, 2 percent of occasional smokers and 1.9 percent of regular smokers who weren't
nicotine-dependent.

The scientists report a similar pattern for subjects who met diagnostic guidelines for panic disorder, a condition marked by recurrent panic
attacks, fear about future attacks and worries about their consequences. A history of other psychiatric illnesses couldn't account for the
associations, the researchers write this month in Archives of General Psychiatry. Four years later, nonsmokers were less likely than dependent
smokers to have developed panic ills.

Background We examined prospectively determined bidirectional associations
between smoking and panic and other anxiety disorders and their temporal ordering of onset in a representative community sample of adolescents and young
adults.

Methods Baseline and 4-year follow-up data were used from the Early
Developmental Stages of Psychopathology Study, a prospective longitudinal study of adolescents and young adults in Munich, Germany. We assessed smoking
(occasional and regular), nicotine dependence, panic attacks, panic disorder, other anxiety disorders, and other mental disorders using the
Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Conclusions In young adults, prospective analyses revealed a fairly unique
and specific, unidirectional relationship between prior smoking and increased risk for subsequent panic attacks/disorder. However, we could not exclude the
existence of a second, less frequent, reverse pathway of prior panic and secondary nicotine dependence.

From the Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology Unit, Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry, Munich,
Germany (Dr Isensee, Wittchen, and Lieb and Mr Höfler); the Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla (Dr Stein); and the
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany (Dr Wittchen and Mr Höfler).

I saw where the topic of surviving through a hurricane was raised in a post today. The situation basically fits into this post on how a natural disaster of
any kind cannot be effectively dealt with or resolved by smoking. If anything, smokers often face special problems during such times either because of access
to cigarettes or the challenges of having to go out in inclement conditions in order to smoke or to get cigarettes. The only way to guarantee that your body
will never again make demands on you to go out in blizzards, hurricanes, monsoons, heat waves, dangerous freezing conditions or in any other inclement
condition in order to feed a need for a nicotine fix is to simply stick to your commitment under all conditions to never take another puff!

While most smokers actually believe that smoking was an effective stress treatment strategy (a drug that calmed them down), when it really comes down to
it, smoking never truly calmed them down. All it did was administered nicotine alleviated nicotine withdrawal that was induced by stress. The illustration
and text below covers this point.

The one true step that people are doing here to control their stress is getting rid of a product that should cause any thinking person a lot of worry and
to stop the vicious cycle of drug feeding and drug withdrawal by always knowing now to never take another puff!